לֵבָב
le.vav
heart
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word לֵבָב (levav) — Heart The Hebrew word *levav* appears 252 times throughout the Bible, making it a frequently used term with substantial importance to biblical thought. Its basic definition as "heart" carries the typical range of meaning this organ holds across ancient languages: both as the physical center of the body and as the seat of internal emotional and mental life. This dual reference—physical and psychological—reflects how ancient Hebrew speakers conceptualized the innermost aspect of human experience. The high frequency of *levav* in biblical texts suggests that the heart held central significance in Hebrew understanding of human nature and behavior. Rather than locating thought primarily in the head or mind (as modern Western culture often does), biblical writers consistently pointed to the heart as the location of wisdom, intention, emotion, and moral character. When biblical texts describe what someone "does in their heart" or what "comes from the heart," they are referring to the core of a person's being—their true thoughts, desires, and motivations. Given its 252 occurrences across the biblical corpus, *levav* functioned as a foundational term for describing human interiority and the mechanisms through which people understand themselves and encounter the divine. The word's prevalence indicates that biblical authors returned repeatedly to this concept when discussing human motivation, moral responsibility, and spiritual transformation.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
252 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
However the high places were not taken away, and the people had still not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 22:9He sought Ahaziah, and they caught him (now he was hiding in Samaria), and they brought him to Jehu, and killed him; and they buried him, for they said, “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with all his heart.” The house of Ahaziah had no power to hold the kingdom.
2 Chronicles 25:2He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, but not with a perfect heart.
2 Chronicles 29:10Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
2 Chronicles 29:34But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. Therefore their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
2 Chronicles 30:19who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, even if they aren’t clean according to the purification of the sanctuary.”
2 Chronicles 31:21In every work that he began in the service of God’s house, in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
2 Chronicles 32:6He set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the wide place at the gate of the city, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,
2 Chronicles 32:31However concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
2 Chronicles 34:27because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard you,” says Yahweh.
2 Chronicles 34:31The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
2 Chronicles 36:13He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
Ezra 7:10For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
Nehemiah 9:8found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his offspring, and have performed your words; for you are righteous.
Job 1:5It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
Job 9:4God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
Job 10:13Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:
Job 12:3But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?
Job 17:11My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
Job 22:22Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
Job 27:6I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart will not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 34:10“Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
Job 34:34Men of understanding will tell me, yes, every wise man who hears me:
Psalms 4:4Stand in awe, and don’t sin. Search your own heart on your bed, and be still.
Psalms 13:2How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall my enemy triumph over me?
Psalms 15:2He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart;
Psalms 20:4May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel.
Psalms 22:26The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever.
Psalms 24:4He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.
Psalms 25:17The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh bring me out of my distresses.
Psalms 28:3Don’t draw me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.
Psalms 31:24Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in Yahweh.
Psalms 62:8Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.
Psalms 139:23Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
Psalms 69:32The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.
Psalms 73:1Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
Psalms 73:7Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
Psalms 73:13Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,
Psalms 73:21For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.
Psalms 73:26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalms 73:26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalms 77:6I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires:
Psalms 78:18They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.
Psalms 78:72So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Psalms 84:5Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
Psalms 86:11Teach me your way, Yahweh. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.
Psalms 86:12I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart. I will glorify your name forever more.
Psalms 90:12So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalms 95:8Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
Psalms 95:10Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.”